Leadership crisis
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: May 24, 2014 -

They say; change is the only thing which is constant in this world, and this is more particularly true in case of politics; where up and down mobility is its defining characteristic feature.

And this time tested maxim could not be more truer than what is being witnessed in Manipur today.

While the entire country is in upbeat mood and hoping for better days ahead with the change in political regime at the Centre, it is interesting to note that every known political party in the opposition bloc back home appear to have plunged deeper into crises over leadership within their respective organisations.

While the leadership crisis in the State unit of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) has come out in the open bringing new twists and turns in the crisis with each passing day, similar leadership crisis building up within Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Manipur Pradesh seems to have been apparently fixed with party spokesperson Adhikarimayum Sarda and president of Bharatiya Yuva Morcha, Manipur chapter president O Malesh jumping in to refute media reports on hectic lobbying to remove incumbent party president Th Chaoba.

Of course, their refusal is one thing and the speculation over the possible change of guard in the State Unit BJP, which has been doing the round for quite sometime following dissension in the working style of the incumbent party chief is an altogether different thing, that would be hard to be missed by anyone who has been watching and monitoring the direction closely to which the wind of political change has been blowing in the State.

So, keeping aside the affairs of BJP, which has no elected legislator of its own in the Manipur Legislative Assembly, to the realm of speculation and denial for the time being; it is really disheartening to know that the leadership crisis in the State Unit of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), which, though has only seven elected legislators in the House of 60-member can still of boast of having the second largest number of party men next to the ruling Congress party, has gone out of control today.

Of course, nothing has been going on well in the party for quite sometime now with elected party legislators not seeing eye-to-eye on many issues.

While the relation between senior party leader MLA Dr I Ibohalbi and MLA Th Shyamkumar has remained estranged, party president Kim Gangte had even appointed MLA Kunjo as the leader of the party’s legislature wing without informing MLA Ibohalbi who was then the leader of the party’s legislature wing leader citing anti-party activities.

So, from all that have been churning, what has spilled out all over today was only expected. But the matter in which the tussle for leadership has been going is so funny.

A day after some party MLAs come together and announced that incumbent party president Kim Gangte has resigned voluntarily from the post owing responsibility for the failure of the party in the 16th Lok Sabha election and proposed the name of party MLA Kh Joykishan as her successor; Kim Gangte came up to declare that she is still the president and there is no question of her quitting the post without necessary instruction from the party’s high command.

Here, all that we would like to remind the AITC legislators who are fighting for the post of party president is that until the bye-election to the Konthoujam A/C in 2011 which saw the victory of party candidate Kh Sarat, AITC was a non-existent political party in the State.

Perhaps, Kh Sarat should stake a claim to the post of party president to put a close to the drama over leadership crisis in State unit AITC.